“Who are you?” Varena asks, looking into the eyes of the young man who saved her.
“I am Alex,” he tells her with a cocky smile.
Nineteen
Raphaim utters a huge sigh and listens to them argue again. They are wasting time, and he is sick of waiting.
“I have to go back to the others, Malach. Things must be put in motion before I go after the next part of the book.” Irritated, Malach glares down at Elina.
“You are so stubborn! You wish to take that vile abomination with you to your family. Have you lost your mind?”
Smiling up at him like a mother trying to calm an angry child, she says slowly, “I can keep an eye on him, and he can give us information about the missing part of the book, Malach.”
Raphaim jumps up waving a hand at the pair saying, “You two deserve each other! How about I just meet you there?” With a flash, he is gone, following the path he saw in Elina’s mind back to her family.
Elina and Malach look at each other in surprise and go after him.
Under cover in the woods behind the house, Raphaim takes stock. He can see movement inside the house. With a smile, he steps from the trees to go inside.
The angel Nameed drops down silently in front of Raphaim.
“Ahhh…another angel, pining for his human. How pathetic you all are! How about I end her misery and yours by draining her dry?” Raphaim asks showing his teeth.
“Try it, demon,” Nameed says quietly. Warned by Malach, Nameed faces his enemy. “Have you ever coveted something you can’t have?” Nameed asks with a wicked smile. “Yes, I see doubt in your eyes, Son of the Mocker. What has weakened you?”
Raphaim feels his fangs lengthen; his eyes go black and saliva pools in his mouth as he thinks about the blood pumping through the angel in front of him. No longer blinking, Raphaim prepares to leap at Nameed.
“You are tainted!” Nameed says pointing his weapon at Raphaim. “Even now your soul pulls you in two directions. Are you Shadow, or are you Light? You can’t have it both ways, demon!”
Just before he leaps, Elina and Malach appear. Flanking Nameed, they face Raphaim and Elina looks at him with pity in her eyes. Raphaim fights to tamp down the rage in his soul as he glares at Elina. Compassion fills her heart looking at him; she starts to step forward when Malach growls at her “Don’t even think about it, Keeper!”
“Yes, come to me Elina, let’s see if you taste as good as you look.” The thought of his mouth on her, his teeth on her neck, hands on her breast, fills Raphaim’s mind and he projects it to Malach.
“I promise she will enjoy it,” he says taunting Malach. “She did before,” he sneers as he strokes himself.
Malach leaps for Raphaim, seizing his throat and throws him into a group of trees. He spins through the air, in glee and spreads his black wings, landing a few feet in front of the trees. Like a predator, he sniffs the air, sensing the presence of someone in the woods. All traces of laughter gone his head snaps around, on the hunt once again. To the right, Hunter runs into the clearing. “Fresh blood, that’s what I need” he thinks. No longer thinking about the angels, his whole focus narrows on Hunter. He leaps through the air at the human.
“I see you, demon” Hunter says looking up into the eyes of the demon leaping at him. Crashing with a scream to the earth, Raphaim’s world goes dark.
“Well done, Gunskaliski,” Elina calls out with a triumphant smile.
Stomping over to the crumpled demon, Malach kicks him over onto his back and draws his sword. Nameed grabs his brother and pulls him away, urging him to control himself.
Elina chooses to ignore the macho display and asks, “How long will this last” as she gestures to Raphaim.
“If he survives, about seven days; a demon usually dies within seven days of being seen by a medicine man.” Hunter replies.
In relief she thinks about the extra time that will buy them. “I need a place to keep him until then. He is not staying with my family.”
“I have just the place for one such as him,” Nameed says with a dark smile.
“Who is he?” Hunter asks as Nameed picks up Rephaim’s body and flies away.
“He is a son of the Mocker. His name is Raphaim,” Elina tells him.
Shock shows on Hunter’s face. “Why did you bring him here?” he asks as Malach stomps over. His face asks the same question.
“It was necessary,” Elina, tells them. “Where are the others, I need to see them.”
Hunter looks at them, and his cell phone rings. His face fills with worry. “S.O.S.” he whispers. Stepping away from them, he tries to call Alex back. They have a code for emergencies, and that was it. With keys in hand, he tells them, “I have an emergency at home, I will return later.” He breaks into a run toward his truck; he does not wait for a response.
To avoid texting and driving, he pulls over when he hears a message tone telling him he has a text. Looking at it, he reads. “Come home, I will explain everything when you get here.”
This had better be good, Alex he thinks as he whips back onto the road and races for his home fifteen miles away.
Rocks fly as he pulls quickly into the gravel driveway. Hunter kills the motor and jumps from the truck, headed for the traditional log. The home is set on five acres of family land.
